


Solar Flare

by hunter81095



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Adventure, Family, Friendship, OC insert, Self Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23680222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunter81095/pseuds/hunter81095
Summary: SI/OC: Reincarnated into Earthland, Helio Dart, determined to change things for the better, becomes a mage, wanting to learn what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard. Rated M for intense violence, sexual references, language and some gore.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65
Collections: oc self insertSI





	1. Chapter 1

I don't remember the cause of my death.

I know it was quick and painless, a sudden sharp sensation in the back of my head, and then nothingness until I regained awareness once more.

When I did, I was no longer a twenty two year old working a dead end job, I was a two year old struggling to learn how to use the potty.

Well I say struggle, as soon as I was fully aware of myself again, I nailed it and reading immediately.

Still though, it didn't take long for me to realize I was reincarnated, my Mom and Dad would amaze me with flames and little sparkly fireworks that caught my eye and held my shorter two year old attention span and made me want to learn it myself, what kid didn't want to be a wizard, after all?

I learned my name in full soon after I first awoke, I was now Helio Dart, only son of Anna and Blaise Dart, two freelance mages, who used their magic for entertainment more than combat. I had pale white skin, golden blond hair, and light green eyes, I was too young to figure out if I took more after my Mom or Dad in the looks department, but I hoped I had the more rough looks of my Dad.

Of course, soon after I learned that, I learned just what world I had been reborn to, not just some generic fantasy world, but one of my favorite stories of all time. I was reborn into Earth Land, the world of Fairy Tail, born in the year x765.

I was shaking in excitement the minute I'd heard someone use the word Earth Land in a surprised exclamation, I'd whooped with joy as I finally put all the pieces together as I realized just who I could befriend and meet.

Where most normal people would try to avoid things like canon, preferring to let it run its course, I was going to run roughshod over it. I'd make friends with Erza and Mirajane, I'd save Lisanna Strauss from going to Edolas, and if I could, I would make sure that the seven year timeskip never happened.

Because I knew, from the moment I heard just what world I was in…

I was going to join Fairy Tail.

The first two years of my life after being 'awakened' were quite boring, I was too young to learn magic, and to my parents, not mentally prepared to do so, which meant I did what two to four year olds did in Sun Valley, I played with other kids, and I 'learned' to read and write.

It. Was. So. Boring.

I'd already known everything they were teaching me except when it came to history, and while my body was that of a toddler, I was more mentally mature than that, meaning I had to go behind my parents' backs to learn things they thought I was 'too young for' which meant everything from chapter books to beginner's magic tomes. I would sneak them to my room and I read all of them, from books by Kemu Zaleon, I could see why Lucy was such a big fan, to a book about basic Requip magic, which I learned as quickly as possible as I wrote volumes on my knowledge of future events. I read and learnt it all, quickly getting a reputation around Sun Valley as quite the little genius.

Of course this came with drawbacks.

While my apparent genius convinced my parents to let me read the more advanced books I'd had to sneak by them before, it also intimidated the children my age.

It had been true on Earth, and it seemed the same applied here on Earth Land as well.

Child geniuses didn't have friends.

The children that I'd spent time with before, whom I'd treated as little siblings due to my mental maturity, now drew away from me, and if it weren't for my previous life's experience with it, they would have tried to bully me.

I might have been a weakling in my last life, but a punch to the face of your local bully works wonders when it breaks their noses.

And so, that's how my life went until I was seven years old, friendless isolation, self study and four years of self training in Requip Magic, and meditation to increase my meager magical strength.

Because on July 24th, x772, my seventh birthday, my parents decided I was ready to learn magic.

"Now honey, what magic do you want to learn?" She asked me, her gentle smile making me beam my own, she might have been my 'new' Mom, but Anna Dart was as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside.

She had golden blonde hair, which I had clearly inherited from her, and kind blue eyes, her smiles were always maternal and kind, her cheeks dimpling whenever her lips twitched upwards.

"You could learn from me?" My father, Blaise, said, his face lit up in exaggerated hope. My father was what you could call handsome, I suppose. His jaw chiseled, with a strong face to match, the man could look intimidating when he wanted to, but his face was almost always set in a smile around me. His hair was a light brown, and his eyes a lighter shade of green, which I'd gotten from him. It was too early to tell if I'd inherited his face, seeing as I'd not gotten rid of all my baby fat.

I looked between the two, my mouth set in a firm line as I tried to find a way to deny them both, as to be quite honest, they weren't really combat mages. My Mom used a performance art, known as Sparkle Magic, good for a bit of razzle dazzle, and possibly blinding nocturnal beasts or Slayers, but in a real fight, she wouldn't last very long.

My father on the other hand was a fire mage,and a rather generic one at that, he could control it to a fine degree, capable of creating names and intricate designs that he could make as cool as a spring morning, or hot enough to melt metal, but he'd never fought anything tougher than a half trained bandit, or so he told me.

My face must have given away my thoughts, as my mother bent down and put a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay if you don't want to learn from us, we know you want to join a guild in the future and go on adventures, so I asked around, and apparently the abbot at the temple just outside of the village is a very strong mage and has very powerful magic." She said gently, her voice almost teasing me as she told me of the abbot.

I knew the temple she was speaking of, it was an odd place, a very confusing mix of worshiping the sun and Buddhism, which left me scratching my head every time I was around them for more than a few minutes, but the notion of the abbot being a powerful mage made me set that feeling aside.

My excitement must have shown on my face though, as my mother spoke, her tone laced in amusement. "I guess you'll just have to go see him tomorrow then." She said teasingly, I nodded quickly in excitement, the notion of learning a powerful magic was something I was not going to pass up. I would have been happy with generic fire magic if I'd absolutely had to choose, but with an open option, I would always take the more unique one.

After all, I was going to be an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, and I couldn't do that if I didn't stick out.

I stuck my tongue out at my Dad, who was acting almost comically depressed at my decisions, but I saw that proud glint in his eye, he'd told me before how he always wanted better for his child, and it seemed he thought this was better.

We all returned to our little celebration, my cake tasting all that much better as my excitement kept me going for the rest of the day.

Falling asleep that night wasn't easy, but I managed it.

I woke up early the next morning, having asked Dad to get me up when he did, as the sky was beginning to light up, the sun just below the horizon. We ate breakfast together, my Mom apparently sleeping in, and as Dad headed off to his small magic store, I waved at him and ran in the opposite direction, towards the temple on the eastern edge of town.

The temple itself was built in a pagoda fashion, with what looked like a balcony built on the east and west sides, the Temple of the Sun was a very beautiful building. Even if their customs baffled me, the building itself was awe inspiring, if a little out of place from our village, which looked more like a western fantasy village than anything else. The eastern construction clashed with the more simple western construction, but in my mind that just made it stand out more. A piece of beauty in an otherwise unremarkable place.

Shaking my head to clear it, I walked up to the temple, lightly rapping on the large wooden door in slight trepidation, I steeled myself as I heard echoing footsteps on the other side.

The woman who opened the door was dressed in a traditional Buddhist robe, a large brooch shaped like the sun holding the fabric together at the front that covered her generous bust. She was of eastern descent, her dark eyes slanted upwards, and her black hair done in a bun that was held together by two wooden hair sticks.

"Hello, and welcome to the Temple of the Sun, I am Hikari, a humble member of this temple, how may I help you?" She asked kindly, I smiled up at her as I felt my resolve harden, if I wanted to be strong, it would start here, with gathering up the courage to field my request.

"I would like to see the abbot of this temple, Miss Hikari, if I may." I asked politely, bowing my head in respect. She looked surprised at my request, but she nodded all the same.

"Of course, please wait here in the entryway while I go get him, he should be heading to his morning meditation right now." Hikari walked off at a fast stride, her gait gliding across the hard wooden floors.

I smothered my nerves as I admired the architecture of the temple, it truly was beautiful, wall scrolls with paintings of the sun and entire congregations of people dressed like the monks bowing to it, the rising sun casting a wonderful light into the room through the rice paper screen doors. It gave the entire room a peaceful ambience that I was grateful for as it soothed my nerves while I waited for the abbot.

"It's peaceful isn't it?" A soft voice tore me from my musings, I quickly turned to see the man I could only assume was the abbot.

"Hello, I am Abbot Sheen Flare. How may I help you today?" He said with a sunny disposition, I bowed slightly at the waist as I answered.

I smiled at the abbot of the temple, he was a very kind looking man, his skin was a golden tan, and his eyes a warm brown, he was bald, the only hair on his head being thin black eyebrows. If the man weren't seven feet of solid muscle, I'd think he was the Buddha.

"I am Helio Dart, Abbot Flare. My mother, Anna Dart, said you were a powerful mage, I wish to learn from you." I said humbly, I didn't want to look like a snot nosed brat, I mean, I was only seven years old, if I acted like an arrogant little buffoon, I would surely get rejected.

All of a sudden, Abbot Flare's disposition changed, his stance went rigid, and his face became set in stone. He looked down at me with a scrutinizing eye. "You wish to learn from me, do you? Tell me, Helio Dart, why exactly should I do that?" I looked Abbot Flare in the eye, hoping to convey not only my seriousness, but my determination as well.

"I wish to become strong enough to protect the people I care about, to be smart enough to know how to keep them out of danger and wise enough to seek the most peaceful, and failing that, swift victory possible. My parents were freelance mages in their youths, but they freely admitted they do not possess the strongest of magics, and said to seek you out if I wished to learn one that would better help me in my quest."

Coming out of any other seven year old's mouth, that speech would have sounded awfully rehearsed, but I had a bit of a reputation around Sun Valley as quite the little genius, so I sidestepped the awkwardness that could have caused. I hoped it was enough, because I wanted to be able to stand out amongst my peers as a powerful wizard, both for the reasons I mentioned, and for the element of surprise in having something powerful and unexpected.

Abbot Flare looked at me searchingly, presumably looking for any hint of falsehood, it felt as though he was searching my very soul for a moment before his body relaxed, and his face brightened once again.

"If what you speak is true, Helio Dart, then I will gladly welcome you as my pupil. We shall begin your training with meditation, seeing as I wasn't expecting to gain a pupil today. Please, follow me."

And with that, began my three years of training that I would come to know as hell.

"You seem to have an impressive hold on the basics of meditation," Master Flare said, now that I was his pupil, he'd told me to refer to him as such.

I nodded in response, "Yes Master Flare, I taught myself how to do so from a young age as I taught myself basic Requip Magic to supplement my main one."

Master Flare nodded sagely, "Yes, that was quite a wise move on your part, not only will it allow you to keep a weapon on you at all times, but it will allow you to travel without a heavy pack. Smart thinking, my pupil." He said sagely, I smiled at him, I'd only been his student for a couple of days, but I'd already come to love praise from my new teacher, having been rather starved of such things in my first life, I soaked it up in this one like a sponge.

"Now that I've ascertained your grip on the basics of magic, we shall begin your physical training, for you see when it comes to magic, a well trained body is just as important as a well honed mind." He stood straight, his hands folded behind his back. "A man with a well trained body may beat you physically, and a man with a well trained mind may beat you cleverly, but if you are well trained in both, you will always find triumph." I nodded seriously, I could be as smart as I wanted to be, but all of that would be meaningless in close quarters if I didn't have the strength to keep myself alive while I thought up a strategy.

So began a rigorous training regime that began with running, and ended in me getting beaten into the ground by the martial arts expert that was my master.

Finally, after a month of sheer physical torture, and rigorous mental exercise, Master Flare finally showed me his magic.

"Now that I have firmly tested your resolve, I believe you are ready for the next step of your training," I shook in excitement as he held his hand out, palm facing the ceiling. "I believe you're ready to learn the basics of my magic." He smiled secretively, "Most people who've seen my magic believe me to be a simple, yet powerful, Light Mage, however they have not felt my magic, nor have they truly experienced it." He let a miniature ball of light appear in his hand, I walked closer to it, cupping my hand over the ball of light and feeling the warmth of the energy. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Do you know what type of magic I use?"

I looked at the ball of light, the magic was warm and comforting, like my Dad's fire, but it didn't hold that potential of destruction that even the coolest flames had. He'd already told me it wasn't light, so I could only think of one answer, and hoped I was right, else I'd look like a fool.

"Is it sunlight?" I asked, curiosity and confusion lacing my tone, he smiled proudly at me as he nodded.

'Yes, my pupil. My magic is known as Sun Magic. It is a discipline passed down from master to student for thousands of years, and you, Helio, are the one I've chosen to pass my talent along to." I felt a smile grow almost too big for my face at his declaration, I was to be his only student in this magic, the one he'd pass down all he knew to?

I felt resolve well up within me. I'd do my best to my master proud of me before I left to join Fairy Tail.

But for all my work on writing down and memorizing what I knew of this world, I'd forgotten one little thing.

Every member of Fairy Tail has a tragedy at their backs, a story that led them to their new family.

Little did I know, my own tragedy would come all too soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! It's been a while since I've written anything, and boy have I got to say it feels good to step back into the game, if only with a Self Insert/OC reincarnation fic.
> 
> I figured there weren't enough of those, seeing as most SI fanfics just chuck people in randomly in the story and don't give us believable time periods to make the characters strong. A Reincarnation fic makes it far more believable, and lets you shake up the story way sooner!
> 
> I was inspired by a few other fics that I've read recently, with interesting takes on magic we'd already seen, or magic they'd made up themselves. Child of Heaven by Jacques0, Speeding Through Life by PSIness11, Ripples by the real narnia, and Music of the Spheres by Teninshigen were my biggest inspirations, I highly recommend you give all of those a read.
> 
> This story will focus a lot on Cana and Gray in the early chapters of being in Fairy Tail, followed by the Strauss siblings, while still having a bit of time to spend on the other well-known members of Fairy Tail of the time, Erza, Natsu, and Levy included. It might take a while to reach x784, but it will be a lot different by the time we do.
> 
> See you guys next time, with more Solar Flare!


	2. Calm Before The (Solar) Storm

After revealing his magic to me and officially making me his pupil, Master Flare stepped up his training even more than before.

And even now, just a month since I began learning Sun Magic, I can safely say this…

Magic is hard.

I can see now why the absolute monsters in the show are always so ridiculously driven, you have to be or else you'll just stagnate and never reach your full potential. Thankfully, I had my own motivations to keep me going.

My new family, and my future one at Fairy Tail.

When I'd been bullied and alone when I was in middle school, I could always come home and watch my favorite show, I fell in love with the world, the characters, and the idea of Fairy Tail, the guild and its members, always moving forward and never giving up, even when things got rough. I loved that, it's what kept me moving, what kept me motivated and helped me smile through the pain.

I had come into my own in high school, getting real friends and becoming a complete theatre geek, but Fairy Tail never left my heart, I still watched every episode, and if I'd had the money, I probably would have owned every single issue of the manga, but I had to content myself with the anime since I didn't have that luxury.

Fairy Tail had become as permanent a place in my life as breathing at that point, it was a habit to come home and watch the newest episode before I did my homework, it might have been an addiction at some level, but I don't exaggerate when I say that Fairy Tail saved my life, which is ironic now that I really think about it.

I might have a divide between my first life's memories and this one, as if they were partitioned off to genuinely allow me a second life without making me a young adult in a kid's body, but I still owed Fairy Tail that first service of those wonderful people who helped me through three years of hell, helping me overcome my grief and depression, I would become as strong as I possibly could. Then in true Fairy Tail fashion, I'd push even further until I could stand side by side with the likes of Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, and Gildarts Clive. I owed those guys my first life, the least I could do is live this one in honor of that.

I shook my head as I walked up to my house, smiling widely as I pushed open the door and yelled excitedly for Mom and Dad. The two rushed into the living room at my yelling, their faces confused as I beamed up at them.

"Helio Dart, what did I say about yelling in the house?" Mom said sternly, I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, curse my childish mindset!

"Sorry Mom, but you've got to see this! It's the first spell that Master Flare taught me! He said it was the very first stepping stone to becoming a powerful mage!"

He also told me it was the first step in my magic changing my body to fit it, but he didn't explain what exactly would happen.

I shook my head, running over to the table by the door with my parents' sunglasses on them, I handed them to them and made them put them on before I explained.

"Watch this, Mom, Dad! This light shows me things like invisible ink and cleaned up stains and stuff!" They seemed to shiver a bit before I cast the spell, was UV light really such a cool thing to them? I shrugged as I gathered the energy in my hands.

"Sun Magic: UV Light!"

The ball of light appeared in my hand and I shined it around the room before I made the biggest mistake of both my lives, even more than getting killed the first time.

I shined it on the couch.

I screamed in horror and put out my spell, closing my eyes even though the light couldn't affect me.

'The horror! The horror!'

Mom walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Honey, are you alright?" I shuddered and broke away from her touch.

"Mom, I'm burning the couch, and the coffee table…and possibly the entire living room…" I turned around and walked out the door, "I'm going back to Master Flare for now… I-I can't look at you two…"

I shut the door and shuddered even more.

"I need a bath…" I paused and thought about using my bathroom before I shuddered even harder.

"A bath far away from my parents."

Then I stopped and remembered the look on Master Flare's face when I told him I couldn't wait to show my parents.

That bastard!

"On second thought, I think I'll just bathe in the river and sleep outside tonight."

That was the last time I would ever use my magic in the house, I'm fairly sure I'd just scarred myself for life.

* * *

A few months after that, the changes Master Flare mentioned began.

As summer faded into autumn, then autumn into winter and the clouds and chill began to roll in, I noticed that even when the other monks' tans began to fade as the sun was hidden more and more behind clouds and fog, Master Flare and I stayed golden brown.

"Much like puberty changes our bodies to make us into men, magic sometimes changes its user to make our bodies better acclimate to it" He explained to me, "Like how the mythical Dragon Slayers take on traits of dragons, Sun Mages are perpetually affected by the solar energies that we generate with our magic, you will notice more in the coming months what I mean, my pupil"

It started with my skin staying golden brown, then progressed from there, my magic always making me rise with the sun, my body remaining pleasantly warm in even the harshest weather, being able to stare at the sun without any sort of pain, my golden blond hair fading into a lighter shade as it was bleached by my own magic, and even my eyes gradually becoming a more pine green than the lighter green I'd gotten from my parents.

I figured it wasn't too bad a trade, sure sleeping in now only happened when I was injured and my magic was depleted, and I was almost impossible to wake up during the night, but it was far better than what happened to some people I remember, like Wally and his brother Richard.

I did not want to become a blockhead, thank you very much!

My magic teaching went rather slow, Master Flare making it clear that he was teaching me the basics and spells that weren't meant for combat before we stepped up to magic that could damage me.

By my eighth birthday, on top of UV Light, I'd picked up a couple more spells, like Flash, that does exactly what it sounds like, a flash of light that would blind people around me and allow me to escape or defend myself with the hand to hand combat he'd been teaching me. He'd also taught me a rather weak spell for practice with combining heat and light together, Sunburn, like the name implies, the spell causes a sunburn on whoever it is cast on if it's cast with the correct amount of magic. Underpowering it basically turns me into Mom's personal tanning booth, and overpowering it, according to Master Flare, can leave debilitating burns on whoever it's cast on.

When I asked Master Flare why my teaching was going so slow, he'd looked at me with that wise air I'd come to associate with him, and he simply replied. "Because my pupil, if you learn too quickly, you'll never master your basics, and in pitched combat, your basics will be what you fall back on the most." He had then smiled paternally when he saw that while I accepted that answer, I didn't particularly like it, "Also, it will help prevent Magic Overload like I had as a child when my Master taught me too quickly, so until you're nine or ten years old, you will have to learn the weakest spells, or the ones that rely more on the sun itself over your own magic power."

"I suppose that makes sense then, Master. Magic Overload doesn't sound pleasant." I had vague memories of Ultear having it, and that Brain had tortured her to drain the magic, telling Ur she was dead and then handing her over to Master Hades of Grimoire Heart.

"It is not," Master Flare grimaced in what I presumed was remembered pain. "I cannot accurately describe the experience myself, but suffice to say that I am focusing on your physical training, and taking your magical training slowly to ensure you do not suffer as I did at your age."

I nodded in acceptance as he then came at me with his staff, which I barely managed to parry with my wrist encased in solar energy. "Understood Master." I replied, falling back into my fighting stance, "Thank you for sparing me the experience of Magical Overload." I said sincerely as I quickly slid away his next strike.

"Of course my pupil." He said affectionately before his speed picked up and I was quickly and unceremoniously slammed into the floor with a staff poking the back of my head. "You still have much to learn in physical combat that will more than make up for the pain of Overload."

I groaned into the mat as I slowly raised myself up, cursing that damn staff and Master Flare's ridiculous amount of strength. "I assure you I figured that out on my own Master." I said as I painfully stood on both feet.

My slave driver of a Master simply chuckled at my pain as he made me retake my stance and proceeded to beat me into the ground for the fifth time that day, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet.

* * *

When December x773 rolled around, my Master gave me my Christmas present early.

Well he said it was a Christmas present, but I was more inclined to believe it was a punishment of some sort at the time.

"You're making me do what?!" I asked incredulously, my voice raising in pitch as I recoiled away from him.

Master Flare simply laughed as he put a hand on my shoulder, "Easy my pupil, I would not send you against the others if I did not believe you could handle it." He smiled paternally at me, "The way you are learning now is simply countering me specifically, if you wish to become a truly competent fighter Helio, you must fight against many opponents, magical or not, for if you only fight me, then you will only be good at fighting me." He gently guided me onto the mat in front of a younger looking monk, or at least I assumed he was, they were all bald and in good shape, so I couldn't really tell how old they were unless they were wrinkly. "Now that you've mastered the basics of our style, you will practice the more advanced forms against more opponents so that you don't develop any bad habits." He patted my shoulder, "I will keep an eye on your matches Helio, I won't let you come to grievous harm through inaction." I relaxed slightly at his assurances and bowed to my opponent, who introduced himself as Yuan, before we slid into our stances.

"Now, begin!"

* * *

As my ninth birthday came and went, Master Flare had stepped up my training even more, I was beginning to think my physique was actually unhealthily healthy for a prepubescent child, and I was getting to the point that I could hold my own against a few of the younger monks in the temple in hand to hand.

Still though, I couldn't deny the results, no matter how much I wanted to. I was definitely far stronger than I had been two years ago, and I was still growing with each day, even if I wished Master Flare would go easy on me sometimes.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Master Flare's presence behind me, his magical aura felt like a summer's day, despite the fact it was early September, and for someone who could sense it, it felt quite reassuring.

"There is much on your mind, my pupil." It wasn't a question. Master Flare had the old, wise mentor trope down to an art form, sometimes the man even helped me solve problems I hadn't had yet! I loved the guy like a second father, stricter and more enforcing than my real Dad, but he loved me all the same.

I shrugged in response to his statement, "I'm just reviewing old memories, Master; they will pass with time." He nodded and sat beside me, the two of us were meditating on the Eastern balcony, facing the rising sun. While I didn't worship it for obvious reasons, I still found the exercises that the monks went through day by day to be incredibly relaxing, and good for training. So I showed them all the respect they deserved, regardless of how silly I thought the whole thing was.

"You've been doing this for years now, my pupil. You know how to clear your mind and reach into yourself, purge those thoughts from your mind, and focus yourself inward." He said serenely, I smiled faintly and did as I was told, focusing in on myself, feeling out my magic container.

I'd been working on expanding it even before I'd become Master Flare's student, and now with two years of serious magical training under my belt, it had come quite a long way from that pathetic little thing it had been when I first reached out to it six years ago. Of course, like my prepubescent body, there wasn't really a whole lot more to be done with it until I started maturing more, lest I risk magical overload, or worse, rupturing my container and destroying my ability to wield magic. So it was simply an exercise of touching my magic and letting it flow through my body then back into the container over and over again, warming my body beyond its now normal increased heat, and bringing with it a wonderfully calming and liberating experience.

We continued like this until the sun was over the horizon, rousing us from our meditation and signalling that it was time for our lessons to truly begin. Wordlessly, so as not to disturb the other monks that were meditating around us, Master Flare and I headed back towards the dojo, where I learned magic and was mercilessly beaten into the ground by my master.

"Now," Master Flare began as soon as I shut the rice paper screen door, "today is going to be different, I shall teach you the last of our magic's effect spells, and once you're able to perform it adequately, we will move onwards to attacking people with your magic." Holding myself still out of sheer willpower, I forced myself to pay full attention to Master Flare, getting distracted just resulted in large amounts of pain when we began sparring practice.

"What spell will I be learning, master?" I asked, my curiosity and excitement bringing a slight smile to my master's face as he began to explain.

"Well, my pupil, this spell, while being unable to hurt people takes a lot more magic than even some of the more advanced sun spells, it is a healing spell, known as Solar Power" I couldn't help my excited smile, nor could I help the shaking in anticipation that took over my body as he explained. "While Healing Magic is indeed a lost art, Solar Power allows the caster to bolster their own body with the energy of the sun itself, speeding up the user's healing process dramatically." He smiled at my excited expression, but it quickly turned into a stern glare, "However, such a spell does not come without a cost, Solar Power is a very draining spell, and as such should never be used in combat, and is best used during the daytime, as you don't have the reserves to substitute the sun's rays with your own magic just yet. It is powerful, and when you master it, you should be able to heal broken bones in a mere few hours, but as you are now, the most it will manage is sprains and minor burns, I will give you an example of the spell's power." With that, my batshit crazy master walked over to the fireplace, and stuck his arm in, keeping a serene smile on his face the entire time.

He pulled it out after a few seconds, his arm now a mix of an angry red black and disgusting bubbles of skin forming on his hand, with that damn smile still on his face. I looked at him with wide eyes as he simply moved his arm around, as if it were some sort of amazing new invention he wished to show off from every angle. "Now, watch this, my pupil." He said, cupping his hands together,"Solar Power."

A magic circle appeared in his hands and underneath his skin, his body glowed a faint yellow as he basked in the mid morning sun, the burns on his arm disappearing as though they were never there.

I was slack jawed in amazement at the spell's effects, I was reminded once again just how lucky I was to have gotten Master Flare, insane slave driver he was, to teach me his magic.

Master Flare smiled at my excitement, before sitting cross legged in the middle of the dojo, I joined him without a word, sitting across from him, my attention completely on him. "Now my pupil, the first step to casting Solar Power is simple, meditate in the sun's beams, feel how they warm the skin and imagine your body absorbing them as a sponge does water…"

As usually happened when we meditated, I felt the world fall away from under me as I felt my magic respond to my imagination, I envisioned myself like a plant undergoing photosynthesis for sustenance, the sun providing me with the necessary energy to heal myself as I let its light flow through me. I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and Master Flare looked at me proudly as I opened my eyes, I looked down at my hand and saw it, along with the rest of my body was glowing with a warm light that I recognized immediately.

"Very good, Helio." Master Flare said proudly, "Now for the difficult part of learning Solar Power." He pulled out a small but sharp knife. "You can't learn how to heal yourself if you don't have anything to heal, can you?" He asked with a mischievous spark in his eye.

"Uh Master… couldn't I just try to soothe my aches and pains after a spar instead?" I asked nervously, Master Flare shook his head firmly.

"Not until you can properly cast the spell, it helps to have a small, superficial wound to practice on rather than a more hidden pain at first. When you can heal small cuts completely and not leave a scab behind, then you can use it after your spars." He looked at me sternly, "I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous this spell could be to you if you didn't fully understand it before you attempt to use it on a wound you cannot clearly see." I nodded in acceptance, but he kept looking at me sternly.

"Yes Master Flare, I understand." He finally nodded at me and handed me the knife.

"Now in order to heal yourself, you will of course first have to injure yourself, cut your palm open, just a small shallow cut will do…"

Two weeks and a concerning willingness to slice myself open later, I finally managed to heal progressively bigger cuts quickly and efficiently, leaving only a small white line behind on only the deepest of cuts.

Master Flare nodded at my newest achievement and cleared me for using it after spars.

Of course, to ensure I did it properly, he was my exclusive sparring partner for the next week.

Because I was now getting more and more advanced at physical combat, he stopped holding back as much.

Thankfully, Solar Power is very good at healing bruises, otherwise I wouldn't have been sitting for a month.

* * *

One month after first learning Solar Power, I stood across from Master Flare in the dojo, he was holding two buckets of water with an almost noticeable aura of amusement as I tried to figure out what the hell we were doing.

"Uh, Master? What's with the water buckets?" I asked bluntly, there's really not a way to beat around the bush here honestly, I was just too damn curious to not question it. Master Flare finally smiled at me as he began to speak.

"In just a moment, that will be self evident." He said mysteriously, "Because today my pupil, I shall show you the first and most simple attack spell of our magic, Flare." He looked at the target, and a small magic circle flared up on his hand. "Sun Magic: Flare." The attack shot across the room, a jet of pure sunlight that slammed into the target, causing a large flash of light.

Thankfully, our magic keeps us safe from large flashes of sunlight, and I could tell he'd managed to burn a hole through the bullseye. I felt a smile cross my face in anticipation, I loved magic!

"This spell is simple to learn Helio, manifest your magic around your hand like you do when you use Sunburn, but I want you to compress it into pure sunlight, make it dense enough to hold together, and fire it at the target." He explained to me, I nodded as I did just that.

"Sun Magic: Flare!" I called out, my newly formed spell looked pitifully tiny and it wobbled slightly as it left my hand, but if flew true and hit the bullseye of my own target, leaving a small scorch mark. I grimaced but I knew my first casting wouldn't be perfect.

"Again."

This time it flew in a straight line from the beginning and hit the bullseye again, that's the best thing about most magic, with enough control over it, it hits where you aim it, unless it's dodged or another person's magic acts upon it. Master Flare nodded once again, and I cast again, this time setting my target alight with the heat. My eyes widened and I rushed to one of the buckets and quickly splashed a little on the small flames. I turned and smiled sheepishly at Master Flare who simply smiled at me.

"We're going to go until you burn through it without leaving flames." He said firmly, and I nodded back.

"Of course Master."

I turned back and focused once again on the target.

"Sun Magic: Flare!"

* * *

By my tenth birthday, Master Flare had taught me a respectable amount of attack spells, if not as many as I could learn, according to Master Flare, and the spells he showed me out of the only book about our magic.

Unfortunately, as I found out, our magic was annoyingly underdeveloped. Sun Magic didn't actually have all that many spells for it, there were a few useful ones beyond what I'd already learned, and then there was the complete overkill.

Sure, I'd learned the basic forms, UV Light, Flash, Sunburn, Flare, Flare Punch, along with Solar Power, but there was a concerning jump from those basic ones to ridiculously overkill.

Supernova was absolutely overpowered as fuck, knowing canon, the only times I would ever need to use what is effectively a goddamn nuclear weapon were against the most powerful members of Tartaros, Alvarez, and Acnologia himself.

Thankfully through strict experimentation, I had discovered something that previous users of my magic hadn't.

Sun Magic used all forms of solar energy, not just sunlight like my predecessors assumed.

Solar Flare, a spell that was one of the more practical of my most powerful possible spells had given me the idea when Master Flare told me it could mess with delicate magical instruments if used near them, something that solar flares in my first life did to electronics if they were strong enough.

Supernova proved my theory when Master Flare had told me of it, he said he wasn't powerful enough to cast it, and I'd realized it was essentially a nuclear weapon, just with radiation hazards that lasted minutes, rather than months or years.

So I began working on my own spells, or at least making my own theories of their use seeing as I hadn't been a nuclear physicist in my last life and only knew the bare basics of nuclear fusion and I didn't yet have the raw power to force the issue beyond enhancing the weakest of attacks.

Fusion Punch was basically just Flare Punch but made explosive and probably unsafe for anyone but a Sun Mage to be near for longer than a few minutes in its unrefined state, but it proved that my magic was even more awesome than I'd thought at first.

Seeing that, I immediately scribbled down ideas for spells to make later on when I got stronger and could take advantage of it, things like proton storms to take out weak enemies with radiation sickness, and what would undoubtedly be useful after I'd joined Fairy Tail, a spell I'd tentatively named Solar Storm, a spell capable of distorting the local magnetic fields, and hopefully making it difficult for lightning mages to use their magic effectively in the mess it would produce.

That was all a ways off for now unfortunately, the power required was simply too much to be efficient until I'd gotten stronger.

Until then though, I was unfortunately limited by what my unfortunately ignorant predecessors had developed.

Hopefully Master Flare and I could craft them together, his experience and superior magic power combined with my knowledge on how the sun actually works meant I could quite possibly manage S-Class before x784 if I worked hard enough.

Of course, those plans came crashing down around my ears in August x775, when my father finally managed to awaken me from my Sun Magic enhanced slumber and my senses were immediately assaulted by the acrid smell of smoke, along with a mix of wood and meat that almost smelled appetizing to my half awake senses.

I should have known something would go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And so turns the wheel of fate, Helio's little dream has crashed down around him, and he's getting his own personal Fairy Tail main character backstory to go with his determination to join Fairy Tail and help his favorite characters.


	3. The Dream Ends

I looked around in confusion as I fought off the grogginess associated with not enough sleep and looked up at my Dad, unable to comprehend the situation in my half awake haze. "Wha's goin' on?" I mumbled more than spoke as I was ushered out of my bed insistently. "Too early fo' cookin' Dad." Dad shook his head and looked at me more sternly than I'd ever remembered him looking in my life.

"The village is under attack Helio, I need you to pack your absolute essentials and get out of Sun's Valley understand?" He asked sternly. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and nodded slowly, walking over to my wardrobe and simply requipping the entire thing as I became more alert.

"What about you and Mom then?" I asked as I hurriedly grabbed my shoes and a pair of socks from my chest of drawers before requipping it as well. My stomach was dropping as soon as I saw the look on his face and I felt my heart leap into my throat as soon as he looked at me with what I could only describe as sad acceptance.

"Your Mom and I are two of the only mages in town, we're going to join the defense." He said grimly. I felt tears come to my eyes as I took in the look on his face. My Dad knew he and Mom were possibly going to die, but he was going anyways, I went to speak up, but Dad grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a hug before I could say anything. "Son, I need you to get out of here, they came from the western end of town, so I'll need you to warn the Temple on your way out, okay?" He asked seriously, I nodded against his shoulder, planning how to help already as he abruptly stood and ushered me out of my bedroom and down the stairs, where Mom was already waiting at the door with bags of food held out to me, as soon as I requipped them, she hugged me tighter than she ever had before, and I realized she knew she was probably going to die here as well.

I felt so damn dirty.

I had lived and died a life before this one, it had been a short one, but it had still been a life, and here I was, ten more years than anyone else ever got, and I'm the one being told to run and live another day.

"Helio, I need you to be strong okay?" Mom said tearfully as she peppered my face with kisses, I nodded miserably, "I know you're shaping up to be a powerful mage, but your father and I need to know you'll be okay, so you have to leave town for us. We'll meet you by you and your father's camping spot okay?" She stated more than asked, "If you hear anybody coming that isn't us, or if we're not there in two hours, you've got to keep heading east until you reach a guild called Blue Pegasus, got it?" I stood silently, tears running down my cheeks as I felt like the ten year old I was. No degree of future knowledge had prepared me for this moment, I might have been mature for my age thanks to my first life's memories, but right now, I was a child that just wanted his Mommy and Daddy to run away with him. To leave the town and get to safety, and damn the consequences.

But they were mages, and they had a duty to use their magic to save the townspeople, and I couldn't make them run away from that, so I nodded through my tears and gave what I was sure would be my final hug and kiss to my parents, forcing myself to not break down all the while.

"I- I l-love you, Mom, Dad." I said through a sob, the two of them smiled at me proudly and hugged me together before an explosion nearby ruined the moment.

"Helio, you need to go now!" Dad said, pushing me out the door, opposite the way of the explosion. "Remember, warn Master Flare, then get to our spot. If we don't show up soon, keep walking until you reach Blue Pegasus!" I nodded, "We love you Helio! Make us proud son!" And with that, they disappeared into the smoke.

I forced my emotions away as they threatened to overcome me and ran towards the temple, Master Flare was powerful, he could help, and hopefully he could beat the invaders back.

As I ran, I frantically thought who the hell our attackers were, Dark Guilds, Zeref cultists, the list went on and on, but I didn't come any closer to the answer until I literally ran into it as I scrambled around the remains of the butcher's shop.

The person looked down at me, their face hidden by a white mask with a guild emblem on it that I vaguely recognized as one of the most powerful, their body shrouded in a black and purple robe that concealed their figure, and a wicked looking spear in their hand.

"Sorry kid, Master Hades' orders." A masculine voice, distorted by the mask he wore, said. He raised the spear over his head, and that was enough incentive to snap out of my shock and scramble away from him, my magic begging to be released.

Without even thinking about it, I attacked him, my hand lighting up in a spell even before I called it out, "Sun Magic: Flare!" The ball of compressed sunlight struck true, burning through his cloak and leaving an angry red mark on his chest, surrounded by blackened skin. He backed up and one of his hands left his spear to cradle his wound, and without thinking, I ran towards him while he was distracted, my fist lighting up once again, "Sun Magic: Flare Punch!" I slammed my fist into his exposed chin and sent him falling to the scorched ground unconscious.

I didn't take the time to admire my handiwork though, I just kept running towards the temple, the few words the man had spoken echoing in my mind.

"Sorry kid, Master Hades' orders."

"Master Hades"

I gritted my teeth in anger, even without the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Grimoire Heart was able to pull this sort of stuff off?! I pushed that thought to the back of my head, but kept what I now knew in mind.

Because now, I had someone to blame.

'Hades, you and your Guild are gonna pay!'

I pushed my anger down for now, rushing through destroyed streets and buildings, running into a few more grunts that had my magic container close to empty by the time I reached the temple and was panting heavily, both for air and the ethernano in it. I looked up in shock as I finally managed to take in what used to be the Temple of the Sun.

Death surrounded me, whether it was members of Grimoire Heart or the monks I'd seen everyday for three years, corpses laid from the ground to the top of the ruined steps, and I couldn't help but let myself cry at the sight.

"Yuan, Li, Zhao, Song, Hikari, Ren…" I said frantically, checking each of them, rolling their bodies over only to see the mortal wounds that had killed them. Burn marks from fire magic, water pouring out of their mouths from being drowned, stab wounds from swords and spears, it didn't matter, their bodies were cold by the time I'd gotten there. I fell to my knees, eyes unseeing as I stared at the corpses of the monks who had been my friends and teachers ever since I first stepped foot in this temple.

Yuan, the stoic but well meaning man who taught me almost as much about physical fighting as Master Flare.

Song, the woman who wasn't really one of the monks, and her husband Li, the two of them helped keep the place clean and made sure we didn't starve ourselves in meditation.

Hikari was the worst though, her face was permanently stuck in an expression of surprised alarm, her body was at the top of the steps, but her head had rolled down them, stopping when it ran into Zhao.

"Why…."I muttered to myself, "Why?!" I shouted at the sky, glaring at the stars as if they'd give me an answer.

"Easy kid, because Master Hades demanded it." Said a malevolent voice behind me, I turned towards it with a glare, uncaring of how low my magic was, at the moment all I cared about was killing the bastards that had killed my friends.

The man in front of me was clearly still a grunt, dressed in robes and wearing a mask that I now recognized had Grimoire Heart's guild mark stamped on the front of it, but he was a lot bigger than the other grunts I'd seen, his muscles had muscles, he looked like he could crush my head like a grape.

"I normally don't kill kids, but well, what Master Hades wants, Master Hades gets." He cocked his head to the side in an exaggerated show of emotion, "Nothing personal kid, just orders, I'm sure you understand." He pulled a massive fuck off huge war hammer from his back and twirled it like I would twirl a stick.

Then the head of the hammer caught on fire.

I sighed in a mix of exasperation and exhaustion, but I powered through it under the nuclear force of my own rage as I dodged under his first swing and punched him in the gut, not using any magic to save my reserves for when I might need it, only to have to dodge away as I cradled my hand in pain. The man laughed at my expression as he ripped open part of his robe covering his stomach, revealing hardened leather armor that had me gritting my teeth in irritation.

"Sorry kid, but I'm a step above the trash you've fought your way through to get here." He twirled his hammer again, "Now at least give me a bit of a challenge!" I growled as I had to dodge out of the way of another strike and pushed any thoughts of magic exhaustion out of my mind as I dug into my reserves and began my assault.

"Sun Magic: Fusion Punch!" I roared, my fist glowing with nuclear energy as I slammed it home into his chest, the intense heat and small explosion caused by destabilizing the nuclear reaction sending him sliding back as his armor shrunk and curled around the impact point. I smiled ferally as I pushed his weakness, slamming home a normal Flare Punch from inside his guard and feeling sick satisfaction as the armor gave under my assault and my opponent bent over around my fist.

He coughed and wheezed for a moment before suddenly kicking me in the stomach, sending me flying back a few feet, barely catching myself as I felt exhaustion creep up on me. I pushed through it, shaking my head and focusing on my pain and rage to carry me through the wave of exhaustion. "Good job kid, been a while since I faced someone who could punch through my armor, but it's time to quit playing around, and finish you off." He raised the hammer above his head and charged me, his near supernatural speed almost making me lose my head before I could roll out of the way, ignoring the way my body protested the action.

"Don't… count me out yet…" I said quietly, "I won't lose to you!" I dodged his next swing and got into his guard again, exploiting my small size as much as I could, punching the inside of his knee and unbalancing him before putting a Flare Punch into his unprotected chin, sending him sprawling on his back, soaking himself in the blood of his fallen comrades and my dead friends.

Not willing to believe that finished him, I ran towards him, both hands encased in solar energy as I jumped onto his stomach, kicking down into the hole I'd made, making him cough before kicking him once more in the chin and preparing my final attacks.

"Sun Magic: Fusion Punch!" I slammed it into his mask, cracking it open like a nut and sending shards of it into his face, making him hoarsely shout, I brought my other fist up, and with a shout Flare Punched him into oblivion, caving his face in and adding a worrying amount of blood to the already thick pool around us.

' Oh God….' I turned to the side and vomited into the puddle around me, the shock of taking a man's life enough to finally hit home through the adrenaline and rage. I wanted to just sit there and cry over my lost innocence, but an explosion from the village knocked me out of my funk.

I jumped off of him, exhaustion rolling over me as I panted tiredly, my muscles felt like they were on fire and my eyelids were getting heavy, I knew I couldn't stop here, but sleep sounded so very good right now that I almost didn't care.

I heard fighting coming from the inside of the temple, and that was enough to shock me into moving, forcing my eyes back open and gritting my teeth through the pain, I followed the sounds of combat.

The inside of the temple was burning and covered in blood, small fires were slowly growing larger as they licked at the screens and wooden walls; it was a far cry from the usually clean and peaceful temple I had grown used to. Finally reaching the dojo, the sounds were at their loudest, I ducked through the hole in the wall, ready to fight by the side of whoever was still alive, hopeless though it may be.

What I found gave me at least some hope, surrounded on all sides by the corpses of Grimoire Heart wizards, and silently staring down the one he was currently fighting, was Master Flare, his magical presence heating the room and peeling the wallpaper, rice paper screens igniting under the sheer power of his fury.

His robes, normally immaculate and spotless were now tattered, blood staining bits of it as he glared at his opponent, but they clearly weren't enough to stop my teacher. He didn't even spare me a glance as his opponent flashed forward, a silent Flare Punch sending his opponent backwards.

His opponent who looked like an oddly human goat and was wearing red samurai armor, wielding a katana.

"Helio." Master Flare said, holding out a hand towards me as the only book of Sun Magic in existence appeared with a flash. "Take it Helio, and leave this village, else our legacy will die with you." He said seriously, never even looking at me as his opponent dug himself out of the debris he'd landed in.

"Damn you, monk!" The goat man said angrily, "I'm going to enjoy killing you." A malicious smirk formed on his face, "When you reach the afterlife, tell them Yomazu sent you there." Master Flare's face stayed stoic as he attacked, and I suddenly found myself ignored by both parties as I stood shocked.

"Helio!" Master Flare shouted as he parried Yomazu's blade with his bare fist, slicing open his palm, if it hurt, he didn't let it show. "He has an entire squad of accomplices, and a partner that will return soon, you must leave now, my pupil!" He kicked the goat man away, "Run and don't look back Helio! Know that I will always be watching you!" I felt tears fill my eyes and nodded at him, running away once again.

"Sun Magic: Solar Beam!" I heard behind me as I sprinted out of the temple, my Master's voice supernaturally loud as a beam of pure yellow shot through the side of the temple, I saw a shadow flying at the front of it, but before he could slam into the nearest tree, he was grabbed by what I could only call an anthropomorphic chicken.

"You're letting him beat you? Bok bok!" The… chicken man? Said malevolently, Yomazu simply stood, holding his blade ready as Master Flare jumped from the building.

"Shut up, Kawazu!" Yomazu said angrily, "I was toying with him while I waited for you to finish killing the villagers!" If I hadn't taken too many shocks today, I probably would have been shocked once more, but now I was just feeling numb as they casually talked about killing my family and the rest of the village. "Now that you're here, we can finish this!" He flashed his blade towards Master Flare, "Slice!" A Kanji formed in front of him, and a compressed wave of magic shot towards him, slamming into him and sending him flying into the temple.

'I don't stand a chance here…' I thought miserably, 'I've got to leave or I' ll only distract them with worry!' So, as I heard what surely was my Master's last stand, I turned on my heel towards the east, and I did as I was told.

I ran.

* * *

Master Sheen Flare wasn't a fighter.

Traditionally, users of Sun Magic used it in their worship of the sun itself, the fighting techniques simply a way of expressing the sun's power to those who didn't understand its might.

But now, surrounded by his fellow monk's corpses, his blood draining from the massive wound in his side, Sheen Flare wished he was.

'Please Helio, get away from here.' He thought to himself, his final thoughts focused on his pupil, and if he were to be honest with himself, the boy he thought of as his own son. 'Don't let this be the end of you, my pupil, else our legacy ends with you.'

"What a disappointing fight," The monster who'd slaughtered his temple said as he sheathed his blade, "I would have thought the master of a lost magic such as yourself would have been a worthy opponent." He clicked his tongue as his equally monstrous partner clucked beside. "Let's go Kawazu." He turned his back on him with a huff, "At least we are now one step closer to a key to one of Zeref's seals." He stopped for a moment before looking at Kawazu once again, "There was a child who got away during my fight with the monk, we should get rid of him as well."

The giant chicken nodded in agreement as the two of them walked out of the temple where a wall used to be.

Sheen Flare weakly laid his head back, looking up at the night sky through the destroyed roof, gathering his final wisps of magic power and then pulling harder on his own reserve, pulling his own life force out with it.

"O' Apollo lend me your strength,

Grant me the power of the dying sun,

Let if fall from the heavens and show the world its might,

SUN MAGIC: SUPERNOVA!"

As the miniature sun formed in the skies above the burning remnants of Sun's Valley, Master Flare couldn't help but smile as he let his eyes close as his magic's most powerful technique plummeted towards their destroyed village.

'If I cannot defeat you and live, then I shall simply take you with me. Let not vengeance consume you, my pupil. I shall take it on my shoulders for you. I will be watching over you Helio, always.'

Then the world went white, and Master Sheen Flare left this world with a smile on his face.

* * *

The explosion went off just as I began to run through the trees, hoping to throw anyone pursuing off my trail, if they were slaughtering the whole village, there's no way they wouldn't send at least somebody to chase after me. 'Although,' I thought to myself as I used a tree to shield me from any shrapnel, 'I don't think anybody will be chasing me after that.'

I turned back towards the village in morbid curiosity, and was rewarded with the sight of a massive fire ball and a mushroom cloud rising into the sky.

'Master Flare….' I thought miserably, a dismayed expression crossed my face as I realized he had to have killed himself pulling that out, either through using his own life to force the last bit of the spell, or from being at ground zero of his attack.

Sun Magic users aren't Dragon Slayers, we can be damaged by our element, even if we are preternaturally resistant to it, if he were a little further away, then he could have survived provided he didn't use life force to cast it, as the radiation was negligible, and the heat would have been little more than an annoyance.

I shook my head, Master Flare had told me that he wasn't powerful enough to cast that spell, and I believed him. Master Flare may have been a harsh slavedriver, but he never lied to me, which meant he had to be dead.

I numbly felt the tears roll down my cheek as I began walking through the forest, using the trees to hide me from Grimoire Heart's airship if they came looking for me, but staying close enough to the road to be able to not get lost. I had a map of Fiore in my requip space, but I didn't want to risk someone sensing my magic use until I was sure that Grimoire Heart was gone from the area.

A few hours later, as I set up camp, I couldn't help but wonder when it would hit me.

* * *

Turns out the answer to that question was as soon as I woke up almost eight hours later as the sun was nearing its zenith. My wounds and magical exhaustion must have kept me down long enough to replenish my magic.

I had a short groggy moment where I failed to stand due to the fact I wasn't in my bed at home, and was instead in my tiny tent I kept in requip space to help expand it, and then once I realized that no, that wasn't a fever dream, I felt all the emotions that had been numbed when I fell asleep suddenly hit me over the head like the staffs the monks I sparred against used.

It felt as if my heart had shattered into a million pieces, ripped asunder and left bleeding as I collapsed into my sleeping bag with a cry of anguish I didn't know my ten year old body could make. I laid there sobbing, the looks on the faces of my parents and Master as they each sent me away, and I couldn't help but feel like scum.

I had an entire previous life in my head, I'd gotten ten more years than anyone else had ever gotten, why the hell was I the one being protected?! Why couldn't I have just fought alongside them? I cursed myself as two answers made it in my head at once.

'I would have died with them, and they didn't want that, no parent wants their child to die, and Master Flare told me why he needed me to run, our magic would have been truly lost.'

'I was almost out of magic after just fighting ten of those guys plus that lead grunt, I wasn't strong enough to fight with them.'

I cursed my small body then and there, I'd only just gotten old enough to not worry about Magical Overload anymore, Master Flare was going to step up my training to take advantage of it, he'd told me yesterday my training was about to become even harder, and I'd been so excited to pick it up!

I knew it wasn't my fault, I knew I shouldn't blame myself and that Mom, Dad, and Master Flare wouldn't have wanted that, so I didn't, I let my tears run dry, and waited until I calmed down before I packed up camp, got out my map, and plotted my journey to Blue Pegasus, the nearest guild where I could rest up, tell them what happened, then begin my the next leg of my journey.

It seems the Universe decided it was time for me to make my way to Fairy Tail, and in a few years, I would be repaying Grimoire Heart tenfold for their destruction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Not as long as I had hoped to make it honestly, just 3,922 words, but I couldn't make it much longer without detailing Helio fighting a few grunts that went down with two punches or adding more blood and gore than was really necessary. This is Fairy Tail, not Gears of War, Fate, or Hellsing, vast amounts of blood and gore isn't something I'll really write in this story.
> 
> Fun fact, the original version of this I wrote over a year ago the Grimoire Heart mages were Zeref cultists from the Tower of Heaven, and Helio went back to his destroyed village to cremate his extremely disfigured parents' corpses, but I decided I wanted Helio to know most of his magic's limited basic attacks and had to step it up, because let's be honest here, the Zeref cultists were a bunch of goddamn wimps.
> 
> I mean, Erza managed to defeat every last one of them with one attack immediately after unlocking her magic. Ten year old Helio Dart, trained in his magic for three years with some decent attacks under his belt, plus Master Flare and his B-Class parents could have held off a bunch of complete idiots like that.
> 
> In this version, Helio can't do that for obvious reasons.
> 
> That, and I decided to leave it vague whether his parents really died or not. Supernova was centered over the temple, on the outskirts of town, and his parents were on the other side. They could still be alive, who knows?
> 
> Me. I do.
> 
> Kawazu and Yomazu are of course canon characters that were just a step or two below the Seven Kin of Purgatory when they worked together, so I decided since the Seven Kin were too young, or in Zoldeo's case, not necessarily a member of Grimoire Heart yet, to have them be the leaders of Sun's Valley's destruction.
> 
> Join me next time when we begin to run into more canon characters and Helio gets one step closer to the Fairy Tail Guild.


	4. On The Road to Fairy Tail

**August 25th, x775 Eastbound from the ruins of Sun's Valley**

I looked up at the sun, judging its position at just past noon almost instinctively as I massaged my feet. Times like this, I really hated the fact that I only had three pairs of shoes to my name, my running shoes had been ruined during my flight from Sun's Valley, and my sandals I wore to the temple weren't the best for walking long distances in, though they were better than my dress shoes, those things killed my feet in minutes even when I wasn't walking!

I facepalmed when I remembered that I was a _wizard_ and let out a relieved sigh as the pain abated as I used Solar Power to heal them, and I leaned myself against a tree, requipping out one of the massive bags of food Mom had passed me the day before.

" _Helio, I need you to be strong okay?"_

I shook my head, forcing the images out of my mind, forcing myself to breathe calmly and deeply as I rode the wave of emotion. I reached into the bag and pulled out what I would need to make a sandwich along with the older vegetables we had.

Mom seemed to have packed all the food we had in the house in the time it took for Dad to wake me up. _'At least I won't starve to death on my way to Magnolia,'_ I thought sadly as I ate my lunch in silence, polishing it off before I slipped my sandals back on and began my trek once again, checking the legend on my map and sighing quietly.

"This trip is gonna take a while." I said to myself, glad at least that I had learned enough Requip magic to not have to walk with it all on my back. I didn't fancy dying of exhaustion anytime soon.

According to my map of Fiore, updated by Dad from his old map from his travels to include a few villages that weren't on it, ours included, Sun's Valley was about 50 miles from Blue Pegasus, with nothing but farmland and woods between here and there according to my map. I sighed and requipped it away once more, and began my walk.

Due to my magic, I could walk longer than most children, and I hoped I'd be able to average 25 miles a day, otherwise I would go insane from loneliness before I could make it to another town. Sun's Valley was in Fiore's northern mountains, nestled in obviously, a valley that long ago served as a pass between them, until plenty of towns popped up around the mountains, making it safer, and with carriages, then magic mobiles becoming commonplace, faster to simply go around it.

I walked in silence for the most part, enjoying the warm summer's day dressed in shorts and a t shirt exploiting the hell out of the fact my magic kept my body immune to sunburn and heatstroke. I was thankful that I would be alone for the next couple of days, as it at least gave me the time to mourn and work through the tangle of emotions that clouded my mind.

I might have had the memories of my twenty three year old self, but I wasn't really him. Sure, I had his knowledge and his experiences, but it was like they were partitioned off from the rest of my mind, so as mature as I might be, I was _still_ an emotionally immature ten year old, with all the experiences that entails.

And an emotionally immature ten year old that just lost all his friends and family?

Yeah, I was an utter mess, gibbering like a baby periodically as I walked, forcing myself to continue my way to Blue Pegasus, a guild I was really very wary of, considering it was basically a host club and their guild master gave me the creeps.

Thankfully, I could lean on my first life's experiences with grief to cope with the overwhelming loss I felt, and it helped for a while, I was still angry that I couldn't have helped more, and I would always miss my friends and family from Sun's Valley, but there was nothing I could do about it now, so over the next two days, I cried my tears and mourned my loss, beginning to feel much less burdened as I walked into the small town that was springing up around Blue Pegasus.

* * *

**August 28th, x775 Blue Pegasus**

My trip ended up taking three days.

My emotions running high, and my late start on the first day made me slower than I really could have been on foot, so for the last three days, I'd been alone in woods, then plains, screaming myself awake at first light, and passing out not long after sunset from exhaustion

I breathed a sigh of relief as I entered the town of, well, Blue Pegasus as the sun began to set. I'd not realized how much I missed the reassuring background noise of _other human beings._ Small things like conversations, or just the sound of footsteps on dirt and cobblestone that reminded me that even if I didn't particularly want to interact with them, other people _were there_. It was a noise I'd gotten used to in Sun's Valley, and one that I appreciated the reemergence of.

I feared having to ask for directions to the guild building, but as soon as I'd entered the town, I saw it. The city had arranged itself around their guild hall, a row on either side of the main street, the guild hall at the very end of it. I entered the building itself with a slight fear of what I would see, my knowledge of this guild making me very apprehensive of what I would find on the other side of the door.

Thankfully, it appeared to be rather tame, a fixation on blues and pinks aside, making me think of an upscale bar more than anything, even if it reeked of perfume, cologne and expensive alcohol. The customers and mages didn't pay much attention to me either, thankfully. Thus making it easy for me to walk over to the bar where the person I needed to talk to, and one of my main reasons for trepidation about this place stood serving people.

"Ohhhhh aren't you just a little cutie pie!" The far too feminine voice of the far too masculine Master Bob said I approached the bar, my face set into a blank slate to avoid offending anyone present. "What can I do for you today?" _He honest to God giggled_. I shook my head and thankfully my still fresh loss made it much easier to not lose my composure in front of him.

"I needed to speak to the Guild Master about a Dark Guild attack on my village." I said quietly, instantly, Master Bob stopped acting like a literal fairy and bent under the bar, grabbing a mug before filling it with orange juice and setting it in front of me, then grabbing a notepad and pen.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," he said sympathetically, "I'm Blue Pegasus' Master, Bob. Tell me what you can about it so I can inform the Magic Council, okay? Take all the time you need." I nodded, taking a sip of this really quite good juice.

"The Dark Guild, Grimoire Heart" I stopped for a moment as Master Bob froze before writing it down, "they attacked my village, Sun's Valley, along with the Temple of the Sun, three days ago, destroying both and as far as I know, leaving me as the only survivor." Bob looked at me, his eyes full of pity, and I simply stared into my drink.

"Sun's Valley?" Bob said curiously, "That's fifty miles from here, and you made it here in three days?" He asked incredulously, I shrugged, fifty miles really wasn't that much when you were a physically fit mage that could heal any blisters and aches in just a few minutes, the only thing that made it take that long was that I had to stop for food and I couldn't really see in the dark.

"I'm a mage, it wasn't that big a deal." Bob simply nodded, "I only caught the name of two of the mages, though I think they were the leaders of the whole thing, Kawazu and Yomazu, Kawazu looked like a humanoid chicken and used some kind of egg magic, and Yomazu looked like a humanoid goat. he used a sword and I think some sort of Script Magic that used kanji instead of words." I took a sip of my juice as Bob wrote it down, "I don't know much more about the attack myself, only that a Master Hades ordered it, and that there wasn't supposed to be any survivors."

Master Bob nodded once more and then looked at me seriously, "I know this must be hard on you young man," he paused for a moment, "actually, what was your name? I need it for the report and it's just so rude of me to not have asked earlier!"

I shuddered slightly, "Helio Dart, sir." He nodded, writing it down as well before looking at me once again.

"Now, I know this must be hard on you, Helio. I can't imagine the pain you must have gone through, I'll arrange you a place to stay tonight, and we can talk about your next step tomorrow, if you want?" He said compassionately, I felt a smile cross my face in spite of how creepy the man was, I could tell that this man (?) was a good person at heart.

"I already have a plan," I said quietly, "I want to join a mage's guild and get stronger, so I don't have to run like I did two days ago." I looked up at him and noticed the torn expression on his face, obviously debating whether I could join or not. "I've already decided on a guild as well," he slumped microscopically in relief, "I want to join Fairy Tail." Master Bob's face lit up in pleased surprise as he patted my head like one would a dog.

"Oh, Maky's guild will be perfect for you!" He cooed, "Fairy Tail will be far better at helping you than we could," he sounded somewhat regretful, but he shook it off, "I'll go make the arrangements at the inn, and I can see you off tomorrow morning!" He picked up his notepad and phased through the bar, heading upstairs to call the council and the inn I supposed.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Master Bob." A voice said from behind me, I turned towards it only to be greeted with a man that even I would call handsome. "I'm sorry for you loss." He held out a hand, "My name is Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, I hope that the people behind that despicable act are brought to justice!" My brain froze as he introduced himself.

How the fuck was the six foot six _textbook fucking Adonis, Ichiya?!_

Deciding I'd had quite enough of this guild and its oddities for now, I thanked him for his condolences and asked him to inform Master Bob I was on my way to the inn, citing that I was tired from my long walk and looked forward to a hot meal and a warm bed.

I began greedily breathing the fresh air as I left the guild hall, happy to be done with that… experience, and with a quick inquiry, I was on my way to the town's inn, where I ate a hearty supper and passed out before my head hit the pillow of my warm bed.

I would prefer the nightmares that were sure to haunt my dreams over trying to figure out how the fuck Ichiya could be anything other than an ugly short guy.

The next morning I awoke with the sun as per normal, and was rather generously given breakfast by the owner.

"Master Bob didn't give me details, but a ten year old boy at an inn by himself tells me something bad happened to you, the least I can do is get you fed." She said sweetly, I thanked her profusely and was just on my way towards the edge of town when I was stopped by a shout from behind me.

"Wait!" I turned with an eye raised, being met by a boy who was dressed rather smartly in a suit, dirty blond hair spiked up in an attempt to look messy, but looked obviously styled. He took a few deep breaths as I waited for him to speak before he smoothed out his suit and smiled. "I'm Hibiki Lates, I'm from Blue Pegasus." He introduced himself,holding out his hand, I shook it and nodded to him, "I already know who you are, Master Bob sent me to give you something before you left, he didn't want to worry about you getting lost on the way to Magnolia, so he had me prepare this with my Archive Magic!" He told me, waving a hand that materialized the closest thing to a computer I'd seen since I was reborn into this universe. He quickly brought up whatever he was talking about on his floating screen, a map, much like the one I had in my requip space, which I pulled out to show to him.

"I've already got a map, Hibiki, thank you for the offer though." I said sincerely, he shook his head at me though, making me raise an eyebrow.

"No, this is different, you see with my Archive Magic, I can download the map into your head so you can follow the best path to Magnolia, that's where you're going right?" I nodded confusedly at him, and he smiled even wider. "Perfect! I've got two versions of it here, one that will take you straight to Oshibana so you can take the train, with instructions to Shirotsume so you can spend the night in a town, and another that will take you to Magnolia by foot if you'd rather not ride a train." I blinked in surprise, this boy seemed incredibly eager to please, and to be honest, I didn't really have all that much money on me in the first place, I had enough for a week of food when what I had ran out or spoiled, but probably not enough for a train ticket to Magnolia.

I 'hmm'd in thought, looking at the Archive Map then mine, Magnolia was 150 miles away from here, I could manage that in just under a week if I pushed it, I had to pass through Oshibana no matter what, I could cut my trip down a bit if I bought a ticket to Onibus then walked the twelve or thirteen miles to Magnolia.

Nodding to myself, I looked up at Hibiki with a smile, "Gimme the map to Magnolia, I'll walk to Oshibana then take a train to Onibus if I don't have enough jewel to ride the train that far." Hibiki nodded so fast I was afraid his head might fall off as he tapped a few keys then swung his hand towards me.

Having knowledge downloaded into your brain is… odd. Not wholly unpleasant, but not exactly fun either. It felt kinda like someone poured water on your head, but instead of running down your neck, it all goes through your ears and is soaked up by your brain.

Like I said, it's weird.

"There ya go!" Hibiki said excitedly just as I felt the knowledge become full in my brain, I could almost hear a GPS voice telling me exactly how far it took to go to Shirotsume town, like magical Mapquest. "I better get back to Master Bob, good luck on your journey! Be safe, Helio!" He yelled over his shoulder, already sprinting back to his guild.

I shrugged at his eagerness to help _then_ get away from me, and turned back towards the road, walking out of town and leaving the sound of humanity behind, Shirotsume was my next destination, exactly 43 miles away, and I'd be there in exactly-

This was going to get annoying.

* * *

**August 30th, x775 Shirotsume**

I walked slowly into Shirotsume, the map in my head was _still_ annoying me, constantly pinging the fact I needed to turn around to continue on my way to Oshibana, and it was _driving me absolutely insane!_

' _If this goddamn map doesn't shut the fuck up I'm gonna walk back to Blue Pegasus just to kill Hibiki.'_

Suddenly the annoying pressure stopped, simply leaving the directions in my head to be followed at my own will, I felt my eye twitch. _"ALL I HAD TO DO WAS THREATEN HIM TO MAKE YOU SHUT UP?!"_ The people who'd heard me looked at me funny, some warily, before continuing on their way, and I had to choke back a growl. The next time I saw Hibiki Lates, I was going to punch him into the fucking stratosphere.

I forced a polite smile on my face as I continued my way into town, stopping over just long enough to sell the pelt and antlers I'd collected from the deer I'd killed so I could have some meat to keep me from getting weak on my way to Magnolia. He even threw in a bag of magical ice to ensure it didn't go bad inside my requip space, which was nice of him. That would explain why all the meat from home was spoiled, which had forced me to hunt the deer in the first place. I couldn't exactly live healthily off of carrots, celery and rice.

I was feeling much less angry as I left Shirotsume, not paying any mind to the people who edged away from me, they must've heard my perfectly reasonable reaction to learning how to shut up the magical GPS in my head.

I might have to hunt down a whole herd of deer to afford a trip to Magnolia, because at this rate, I might _actually_ go insane.

Oshibana is exactly 49.992 mi-

_Godfuckingdammit_

* * *

**August 31st, x775 approximately 25 miles from Shirotsume**

The roads so far had been empty of people walking, the occasional carriage or magic mobile would come rattling by every now and then, but all and all, my journey had been a quiet one so far. I'd honestly expected trouble at some poin-

"Well well boys, look what we got here."

Fuck you Murphy. Fuck. You.

"Looks like a little kid who don't know how much trouble he's in." A high reedy voice said walking out of the trees. A group of six bandits, all non-mages I assumed from the lack of magic energy coming from themselves or their weapons, walked out of the treeline, and I cursed myself for my inattention.

"Think we can ransom him off to his parents, boss?" A tall bandit asked, he looked like the stereotypical dumb mook I vaguely remembered from movies I watched in my first life. "He'll probably get us a pretty penny." His laugh was deep and slow, as if he had to consciously think about how to perform the action.

A shorter one came forward, wearing a ratty old tunic that had a frying pan of all things strapped to his shoulder along with some other assorted scrap metal on a bandolier. "I reckon we could use him as a slave if they don't car-" He was cut off by my fist burying itself in his face.

"Talking isn't a free action." I said as I let my magic charge in my hands, jumping at the tall dumb one. " **Flare Punch!** " He stumbled back, and I kicked him in the back of the knee, knocking him out with a Flare Punch to the temple. I jumped out of the way of a staff with a knife taped to it, stomping where the two weapons met and breaking the knife's blade as it buried itself in the dirt. I took advantage of his shocked disbelief to punch him in the stomach, burning a hole in his shirt and probably giving him first degree burns and he fell down cradling his middle, muttering expletives.

The next one actually had a real sword at least, he looked like he was in his early twenties, covered in dirt I couldn't tell if his hair was brown or if his hygiene was just that bad. I moved slightly as he stabbed at me, giving me an opening to punch his elbow, making him lose the sword before I punched him in the stomach, then kicked him in the head to knock him out.

The last two actually bothered to double team me, but they got in each other's way more than anything, one of them using a rusty old rapier, and the other one holding a war axe. I dodged their strikes and made them get tangled up in one another before I knocked them both out by knocking their heads together to send them to the ground then kicking them in the head.

I rolled my eyes at their idiocy, requipping out some rope to bind their hands together. How the hell did these guys exist for any length of time if they were _that_ incompetent? Was I just too used to sparring with the monks that actually had skill, or were these guys just terrible?

"-Client said that the bandits were usually along this stretch of- Oh hey, they've already been taken out." A voice said as I was musing over the bandits' lack of even basic competence while I tied their hands together, I looked up at them, cautious of what the three people across from me could possibly want.

One of the men was a wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and white pants, he had black eyes, his hair was purple and there was stubble growing on his chin.

The second man had the most ridiculous looking pompadour I'd ever seen, he was wearing a tan leather coat, orange shirt and a pair of black jeans, he also wore shades and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

The last one was slightly shorter than I was, her hair in a high ponytail, and she was wearing an orange checkered sundress, her eyes were violet, looking between me and the bandits curiously as she absently played with a small deck of cards.

"Uh, hi?" I said awkwardly, waving at them with a lost expression. The purple haired guy finally spoke, thankfully breaking me from the awkwardness.

"Did you take these guys down yourself?" He asked me, his eyes had a glint of appreciation in them, I just shrugged.

"It wasn't that hard honestly, they were kinda stupid." He looked down at them and his eyes darkened as he looked them over.

"These aren't the bandits we were sent after." He said flatly, looking them over, "They look like they just decided to play bandit and chose near an actual successful bandit hideout to do it."

"Yep, and we're glad you took them out for us kid, saved us a whole lot of trouble." A sinister voice said from the trees, causing the four of us to look towards it while I inwardly groaned at my complete lack of situational awareness..

This group of bandits certainly looked like they were bandits, and not the stupid kind either, the lead one, who I assumed was the leader, wore a set of leather armor that looked like it might have been tougher than what the guy I'd fought outside the temple had been wearing. His black hair was in a high ponytail and his blue eyes had a glint of cruelty in them as he looked over the four of us, lingering longer over the girl than any of us, twirling a sword that I could feel magic coming from in waves.

The two flanking him however were dressed in brown robes, their hoods hiding their features and their hands held in what I recognized as a ready position for casting ranged spells, I could feel magic power rolling from them like ripples in a lake, they weren't incredibly powerful, but they were definitely mages.

The final two behind them were twins and had heavier armor on that looked like some sort of steel plating, claymores held in their hands like I would hold a butter knife, they were taller than either of the two men with us, a whole chest, shoulders, and head taller, but didn't have a lick of magical power in them. Their brown eyes held the same cruelty that their leader's did, the two of them cracking their necks in anticipation.

"So, if you'd so kindly hand over the kids, your valuables, and the idiots who tried to use our reputation to make some quick cash, we'll let you two leave here alive." I felt magic power begin to roll off the two men with us as their faces hardened and they activated their magic, purple flames rolling around the purple haired guy's hands, and smoke forming in a cloud around the other guy's as the girl with them pulled three cards from her deck and put the rest in her bag.

I felt a jolt of realization as I suddenly knew who the three mages I'd run into were, before I smiled hungrily and let my hands light up as I prepared a spell.

I must have Main Character Syndrome to have run into Macao, Wakaba and Cana, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining.

Their leader looked at us in disdain as his sword suddenly caught fire, "We were being so generous too."

" **Flare!** " The balls of pure sunlight left both of my hands, flying towards their leader, who stepped out of the way and let them harmlessly impact the twins' armor. I growled in annoyance before forcing the emotion down and focusing on the fight.

" **Purple Wave** ," called out Macao, the flames going towards them in a horizontal wave, that their leader cut through with his sword and let the two mages behind him take on the nose, knocking them both into the twins who were now pushing them behind them as they charged Macao and Wakaba respectively. "Crap, you kids be careful, okay?" He said hurriedly before having to lean backwards lest he lose his torso.

" **Smoke Crush!** " Wakaba yelled, the smoke around his cigarette solidifying into a fist that punched his opponent in his unprotected face, giving him time to make some distance between the two of them as three tendrils of smoke solidified and wrapped around one of his opponent's ankles, yanking him off balance and giving him the chance to smack him in the back of the head with another Smoke Crush that sent him into the dirt.

Unfortunately, this only served to annoy the man as he stood up and swung his claymore at Wakaba, cutting his cigarette off right in front of his lips and also relieving him of a few inches of his pompadour.

" **Earth Fist.** " The hooded man that seemed to have chosen me as an opponent said blankly, a magic circle appearing in front of him before it formed into a hand as large as I was, rocketing towards me. I 'eeped' and dove out of the way, my hands lighting up as I caught myself in a roll.

" **Flare!** " The balls of sunlight this time were faster than before, my adrenaline fueling my magic power as much as my body, slamming into my opponent with the force of a gunshot and burning the clothing around its impact, He staggered for a moment and patted out the flames, giving me time to close the distance on him. My hands were already lighting up for a Fusion Punch, before I heard him mutter something and suddenly I was caught in a hand made of earth that was slowly compressing me.

"Don't bother struggling child, my Earth Fist is unbreakable by one as young as you." His voice held a tone of mocking that I endeavored to make him regret. "Just relax, it'll all be over soon." I growled, my body glowing intensely as I collected the sunlight around me, focusing it all into my hand, pressed palm first against the fist.

" **Solar Beam** " I said faintly, the beam of collected light burning through the dirt and rock binding me and slamming into my opponent, also sending him through a tree and laying him out against a second one. His hand fell apart when he lost his concentration, so I fell to the ground gasping for breath, a short application of Solar Power, and I was ready to go again, if a little winded.

Macao and Wakaba had finished the twins and were now double teaming the leader, who had a harried expression on his face as he sliced through Wakaba's smoke only to be hit by Macao's fire. His hair had fallen out of its ponytail, and he looked as if he was on the verge of going insane.

Cana however, was still fighting her opponent, cards flashing towards him as she barely dodged a wave of water. " **Summoned Lightning!** " She called out, the bolts flying towards him only to dissipate against the water attacking her, which then sent her backwards.

"Foolish girl," He said arrogantly, "I use salt water specifically to defeat lightning mages far better than what your silly little cards can accomplish." Cana stood, pulling more cards silently as she panted slightly, "I've had my fun, but it looks as though my leader needs help, so now you must die."

" **Fusion Punch!** " I slammed into his side, not so much burning as melting his robes as I impacted him, sending him tumbling down the road with second degree burns on his side. He howled in agony, standing shakily, only to be finished by Cana.

" **Prayer's Fountain!** " The attack slammed into the unbalanced mage and put him down for the count. I looked at Cana with a grin as she panted slightly, she grinned back through her exhaustion as we turned to see Macao rip the sword from the leader's hands with his magic, Wakaba knocking him out with a fist shaped smoke cloud.

"Thank you," Cana said quietly, holding her right arm shyly. I smiled at her and shrugged.

"No problem, I'm sure you would've done the same." She smiled back at me and nodded. "Helio Dart by the way." I introduced myself, hand out in greeting, she took it as she introduced herself.

"Cana Alberona." She looked at me curiously, "What type of magic was that? I've never seen it before."

"You wouldn't have, I use a Lost Magic, Sun Magic." I said proudly, "You use Card Magic, right?" I asked despite knowing the answer. Cana nodded, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I only started learning it recently, but Macao and Wakaba," She pointed at both of them respectively, "have been taking me on jobs with them so I can practice." I nodded as I requipped out another length of rope, tying the mage's hands together before dragging him with me to Macao and Wakaba, who were pulling what I assumed were magic nullifying cuffs out of their pockets and placing them on the other mage.

"That sounds fun," I smiled at her, tying the twins' hands together, before looking at them and deciding on hogtying them instead so they had a harder time breaking out. "I guess you're part of a guild then?" I hated asking questions like this, since I obviously knew the answer, but Cana nodded excitedly, and I didn't really care that much anymore.

 _She_ _was so fucking adorable_.

"Yep!" She said happily, "I'm part of Fairy Tail!" She went to pull up her dress and froze for a moment before laughing nervously, "I guess I shouldn't have my guild mark on my stomach if I'm going to be wearing a dress…"

"Thanks for the help kid," Macao said as he came over, a carefree smile on his face, "Name's Macao Conbolt, member of the Fairy Tail Guild. Nice to meet ya." He thrust out a hand which I gladly took, shaking it firmly.

"Helio Dart, sir. It's an honor to meet Fairy Tail wizards!" I said excitedly, I couldn't help my excitement, a few days ago I might have been subdued about it, but my inner fanboy would not be held back now.

"Careful there kid," Wakaba said teasingly, "Don't wanna get old Macao's head anymore inflated than it already is with all this "It's an honor" talk." He laughed, "I'm Wakaba Mine, good work dealing with that mage, and thanks for helping lil' Cana out like you did." Cana's face lit up in a blush and I rubbed the back of my head nervously.

"It was no problem, anyone else would have done the same." Macao smiled at me as Wakaba turned away to pull out a communications lacrima, probably calling the Rune Knights then. "I was actually headed towards Magnolia." I said excitedly, Macao raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you looking to join up?" He asked, I couldn't help but nod like a bobblehead, I probably could have helped the excited jumping, but I really didn't care at that point. "Well, why don't you come back with us? I'm sure Cana would like having a friend that doesn't strip all the time." If I didn't already know about Gray Fullbuster, I probably would have been shocked, but it would appear he was already a member of Fairy Tail at this point, good to know.

"...Um, okay then." I said instead, the habit was probably exaggerated by the anime and manga anyways, so I'm sure it wasn't that bad. "When can we leave?" I asked him, feeling my body shake slightly in excitement. Macao laughed at my expression, ruffling my hair.

"As soon as the Rune Knights take these guys off our hands," he looked at both groups of bandits, "They'll probably have to split them up since most of these guys don't use magic." Macao shrugged, "Eh, it's not our problem, hey Wakaba! When are the Knights gonna get here?"

"They said an hour or so!"

Macao nodded, "There's your answer then kid, why don't you and Cana get to know each other better, we'll keep an eye on these guys." I was suddenly grabbed by the hand and yanked a little ways away by an excited little girl.

' _Well, this trip suddenly got a lot shorter, and I'm definitely not complaining,'_ I thought happily to myself as Cana and I started talking about ourselves, and Cana regaled me with tales of her guildmates. _'This is gonna be awesome! I can't wait to get to Fairy Tail!'_

Magnolia is approximately 72.9 mile-

_Goddamnit Hibiki!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And there's Chapter 4 done! I really couldn't think of a way to extend this chapter further at first, I was stuck as he was leaving Blue Pegasus before I wrote the bit about Hibiki, and the idea to have Archive Maps be fucking annoying. I was originally going to have a short arc of Helio walking to Magnolia and meeting a few more canon characters, ultimately ending up with him meeting Macao, Wakaba and Cana between Onibus and Magnolia, but my ideas ran dry, so I had him meet them before he got to Oshibana.
> 
> I really like the idea of the Archive Maps being super fucking annoying, and young Hibiki being way too eager to please and trying too hard to be suave. I also like the idea that Ichiya used to be handsome, then sometime before canon, ended up with a face and body only a mother could love.
> 
> I will say I got the idea of Ichiya originally being a six foot six Adonis from the-real-narnia's excellent Self Insert story, Ripples. If you haven't read that, do so immediately, it is well worth the time.
> 
> See ya in Chapter 5: Magnolia Town!


	5. Magnolia Town

**September 1st, Magnolia**

'You have arrived at your destination.'

"Finally! Screw you magical map!" I shouted exuberantly as we stepped off the train, the other three wizards giving me odd looks along with the rest of the platform. I smiled sheepishly at them, rubbing the back of my head. "Eh, heh heh, I got a map magically downloaded into my head by a Blue Pegasus mage, it's been bugging me since I left that town." I explained, the three nodded as we made our way into town.

The trip to Magnolia was surprisingly fun, Cana was a great conversation partner after I finally managed to talk her and the others out of splitting their reward with me. She told me rather excitedly about Fairy Tail and its members. She seemed to take particular joy in telling stories about Macao and Wakaba, especially embarrassing ones that made them shout in indignation when we both ended up cracking up laughing at them. I smiled as we left the train station, Macao and Wakaba sulking slightly as Cana finished telling another embarrassing tale about them before they perked up as a few women waved happily at them while others glared menacingly. One in particular though looked like she couldn't decide which one she wanted to castrate with a trowel first. I winced at the heat of her glare as her grip crushed the trowel's wooden handle.

"What did you two do to her?" I asked curiously, my eyebrows raised in morbid curiosity. Macao and Wakaba smiled smugly as they fist bumped one another.

"What didn't we do to her is more like it!" They said with a laugh, Cana looked confused and I simply narrowed my eyes at them.

"I know exactly what you mean by that." Wakaba laughed harder as Macao blanched.

"What do they mean, Helio?" Cana asked curiously, I suddenly froze myself.

Nope. I was not giving a nine year old Cana Alberona the Talk.

"You'll learn when you're older, Cana. Come on, show me how to get to the guild!" I said in an attempt to change the subject, luckily it worked on her if not on our older companions who were laughing at my awkwardness.

The Fairy Tail guild hall was a thing of beauty to me, and I couldn't help but stare at it in pure awe, then again it could be that little tavern from the timeskip and I would still be awed by it, because it was Fairy Tail. It wasn't the building that enticed me, it was the people.

"It ain't much, but it's home." Macao said contently from behind us, Wakaba making a noise in agreement as I suddenly stared at the doors apprehensively. Cana gave me an encouraging look and lightly pushed my shoulder, I took a fortifying breath and nodded to myself.

Fairy Tail would make me stronger, and I would make it stronger in return, I had to get stronger so I could defend my new friends, and maybe one day, my new family.

This was the place I had been working towards since I learned which world I was in. This was the culmination of everything I had been through so far, every injury, tragedy, and happy memory had led me to this moment. I just had to walk through those doors.

I wouldn't be forced to run away again.

I put my hands against the doors and pushed them open, being treated to my first sight of the Fairy Tail guild.

It was rather sedate actually, I guess it didn't get super rowdy until more of the kids of our generation _cough_ Natsu _cough_ got were people gathered in their own little groups at tables, talking and drinking, some of them leaned over to other tables to interject and some were crowding around the job board.

And there sitting on the bar in a red robe and silly hat was the man I was looking for.

Makarov Dreyar, the Third Master of Fairy Tail.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Macao said, lightly pushing my shoulder towards the bar, "the Master is on the bar, he'll let you in, don't worry." He looked down to Cana who'd been watching me with an amused look on her face, "Cana, why don't you take him over there?" Cana nodded and grabbed my hand and began dragging me towards the bar.

"You don't need to yank my arm off Cana!" I said as she pulled me through the crowd, I saw someone who I vaguely recognized as Reedus I think, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Master Makarov. Cana pushed me in front of her and nodded encouragingly as Master Makarov looked down at me with a curious glint in his eye.

"Hello there child, what brings you to Fairy Tail today?" I gulped slightly, he may have been like two feet tall, but Master Makarov had a presence. I had to take a fortifying breath before I could even think clearly.

"I would like to join Fairy Tail sir." I said quietly, he looked at me seriously for a few more moments before he broke out in a full grin and the presence evaporated away allowing me to take a deep breath.

"Well, I can take care of that!" He said happily, stretching his arm behind the bar to grab a box that held a magic stamper. "I'm Makarov Dreyar, the Third Master of Fairy Tail, what's your name kid?"

"I'm Helio Dart sir, it's nice to meet you." I said happily, he nodded and held up the stamper.

"Where do you want your guild mark then?"

"J-just like that?" I asked in a daze, I'd expected some form of questioning at least! I had put Lucy's easy entry down to Natsu bringing her and Juvia had the support of team Natsu plus the Master being a pervert, there's no way it was this easy in reality! It couldn't be!

"Just like that Helio, just like that." Makarov said happily, "We get wizards from all walks of life here, what type of person would I be if I turned them away on an arbitrary interview, hmm?" He asked rhetorically, I stared at him in stunned fascination before doing my best to stop looking like a fool. "Now, I'll ask again, where do you want your guild mark, Helio?"

I paused in thought, I needed it somewhere visible but also easily concealable if I had to go incognito, I thought for a moment longer before rolling up my shirt sleeve, baring my left shoulder to him. He nodded, "Alright then, just think about what color you want it in, and the magic will take care of the rest." I nodded, thinking of how I wanted my mark, I vaguely remembered someone having a two tone mark so I concentrated on that as the stamper was pressed to my shoulder. "There ya go Helio! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" I smiled widely, looking down at my new guild mark, the mark was orange with a black outline, it was _amazing._

It was mine.

"Thank you Master Makarov!" I said excitedly, he simply waved it off.

"It is no problem, child. We here at Fairy Tail always welcome new members to our family." He said wisely, before reaching for his mug and chugging down the contents of it, thoroughly ruining the image. "Now go on, go meet your new family Helio!" I nodded excitedly at him, turning towards a similarly excited Cana, and a smiling Macao and Wakaba. I bared my newly marked shoulder to them, smiling widely.

"It looks good on you, Helio." Macao said, his arms crossed, nodding at my new mark.

"Welcome to the guild, Helio, you'll love it here!" Wakaba said around his cigarette, puffing out a smoke ring before giving a two fingered salute and disappearing into the crowd with Macao right behind him.

"Come on, I've got to introduce you to everyone!" Cana said suddenly, dragging me around the guild, telling me the names of other wizards and then running off before I could remember most of them, I only really caught Enno, Reedus, Wan, and a couple of others before I found myself at a table with Cana and a kid who was currently pulling his shirt off.

He was a little shorter than I was, probably a year or so younger than me if I had to guess, with black hair and a cold indifference to what was going on around him. I recognized him almost instantly, but Cana's introduction only confirmed my suspicion.

"And this is Gray, he's the only other one our age in the guild." Gray suddenly started taking his pants off, "He also strips without noticing." She said, pinching her nose. Gray suddenly looked down, noticing his pants were halfway off.

"Dangit! Why does this keep happening to me?!" He yelled, pulling his pants back up and grabbing his shirt off the floor. He turned to me with an annoyed stare as he pulled his shirt over his head, "Yeah I'm Gray, what do you want?" I smiled, extending a hand towards him, he reluctantly took it.

"I'm Helio Dart, I just joined, it's nice to meet you Gray!" I said happily, if I was any older I guarantee I'd be falling over in exhaustion the way I was being dragged around, but right now I just felt like an endless font of it, and meeting Gray Fullbuster only made it worse.

"Whatever," Gray said, crossing his arms over his bare tor-

"Where did your clothes go?!" I asked incredulously, somehow in the time it took for me to introduce myself, he'd lost his shirt and pants. I had thought it was an overexaggerated character trait, not an actual thing! Beside me, Cana sighed in exasperation.

"He does this all the time." She said, her tone laced with fond annoyance. She looked under the table, before popping up with his shirt. "Here, try to keep it on this time." Cana's tone projected just how little hope she had of that happening. She turned back to me, smiling once again.

"Welcome to our crazy family Helio, it's nice to have someone else our age here." She said sincerely, I smiled widely in response.

"I'm glad to be here, Cana!" I plopped down at the table next to us, Gray already back to ignoring the two of us as frost began wafting through his clasped hands, a look of intense concentration on his face. I froze for a moment as I realized something I should have thought of beforehand.

I had no place to stay, and I had nowhere near enough money to rent a room, if I could even find somewhere that would take business from an unaccompanied minor. I sighed and leaned forward into the table, banging my head against it a few times for my stupidity.

Man, this is a really fucking hard table, surprising considering how one gets broken like a toothpick basically every time we see the guild.

"What's his problem?" I heard Gray ask annoyedly, clearly he didn't like that my realization had interrupted whatever it was he was doing.

"Helio?" Cana's voice grabbed me from my self inflicted pain. "Why are you banging your head against the table?"

"I suck at planning." I said into the wood, not raising my head from its position. "I made a plan to get here and join the guild, but past that, nothing." I lightly banged my head against the table for good measure.

"Considering how you ended up here, I think you can be forgiven…" Cana said slowly, I sighed.

"How'd he end up here?" Gray asked, curiosity shining through.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now, okay?" I said flatly, the last few days had helped me a little, but time to think about it and grieve or not, it had only been a week since my entire life had been uprooted. I think I was owed just a little bit of privacy. Gray crossed his arms and looked away, a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, whatever."

Cana seemed to be the most mature of the two, as she simply laid a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sad nod. I gave her a small smile and went back to staring into space, hoping to figure out my living situation.

"I know a place you can stay, Helio." Cana spoke up a few minutes later, breaking me from my thoughts. I gave her a curious look and cocked my head to the side.

"You do?" Cana nodded happily.

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you!" And once again we were off, Cana leading the way out of the guildhall and me being dragged by the arm struggling to keep up. From what I could just barely make out over the tops of the buildings, we were headed in the same general direction as the cathedral.

"Cana, where are we going?!" I asked incredulously as it began to feel like my arm was being pulled out of its socket.

"The church nearby runs an orphanage, it's where Gray and I sleep, we're going to go ask if you can stay there too!" I slowed for a second and had to speed back up as my arm was almost torn off by an overeager nine year old.

"Thanks Cana, I didn't really have much of a plan, to be honest." I said earnestly, Cana just gave me a smile as we turned a corner.

"It's no problem Helio, it'll be nice to have someone else to talk too, Macao and Wakaba are nice, but they're old, and Gray's…"

"Gray?" I offered, Cana giggled and nodded.

"Exactly!" I smiled, Cana was a regular ray of sunshine, it seemed. As she was about to speak again though, we finally reached the church she was talking about. It was a simple, stone built affair, something that would be expected of a church. "Come on, Father Brock's in here!"

I suddenly felt a bunch of nerves, but shook them off. I knew my thoughts of being booted out because I was a wizard or previously belonged to a group of sun worshippers had to be exaggerated; for one thing, wizards and religion both still existed, and Cana and Gray lived here, so they couldn't be all bad.

"Father Brock! Father Brock!" Cana called out excitedly, running towards a backroom behind the pulpit. I ran after her, thankful for Master Flare's hellish training allowing me to keep this sort of pace for so long. I don't think I've walked since we left Fairy Tail.

"Calm down, child, I'm coming, I'm coming." An elderly voice called as the door opened, he was dressed in a very colorful bishop's attire, he looked down at us with a patient smile, "Cana, who's your friend here?" Cana smiled and pushed me forwards as I smiled nervously, it was one thing to be the lonely orphan that was simply passing through, or to be the new kid and have no one know of your past, but asking for aid from the local church for a place to stay had my heart beating out of my chest.

"This is Helio Dart! He's the newest member of Fairy Tail, Father Brock!" Cana's tone dipped low, "He's alone, like me and Gray, can he stay here?" Cana asked in a surprisingly meek tone. On instinct, I was already placing an arm on her shoulder, understanding passing between us.

Gildarts is definitely learning about Cana when I meet him.

Seriously, sad Cana hurts my heart.

Father Brock gently pat Cana's head while looking me over, as if judging me.

He might not have a drop of magic in him, but Father Brock almost rivals Master Makarov's stare. It felt as though I was being put under a microscope and judged for every minor sin I'd ever committed.

Then the smile returned, and the kindly old man was back. "Of course he can Cana, show him where the boys sleep, we always have empty beds for those in need." Father Brock looked over at me as he spoke, "You will always be welcome here, Helio, it would go against all morals to let a child sleep on the streets." I smiled at him, my sight going misty.

"Thank you Father." Father Brock smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I am simply doing unto others as I would have done unto me, Helio." His smile gained a slight smirk, "All I ask is that you return here by ten every night as that is when I lock the gate. If you were to attend Sunday services every now and again, you wouldn't be remiss either." I nodded at him.

"I'll try my best Father." I might not be a religious man, but I could attend a sermon every now and again as thanks for taking me in.

Crap, I'd need to add dress slacks and shirt to the list of stuff I'll need to save up for, won't I?

"Come on, I'll show you to the boys room." Cana said, her tone still somewhat subdued from earlier. I smiled at her in thanks, placing an arm around her shoulders and giving her a hug in thanks. She gave a half smile in return, and I simply hugged her again.

The rooms were communal, much like one would expect from a small orphanage, and the boys were mostly alright. They had an odd sort of almost hero worship once they saw my guild mark, and I was more than happy for Cana to drag me out under the pretense of showing me the rest of Magnolia.

"Are they always…" I tried to fish for a word that wasn't rude, but Cana spoke before I could.

"Creepy?" I nodded, pointing at her, Cana smiled, "They'll get better, just give them a few days, or hang around Gray." She snickered, "They dropped their hero worship of him real quick once he started stripping." I laughed along with her.

Cana showed me the way back to the guild at a much slower pace this time, pointing out stores and restaurants along the way, and talking about the jobs she'd been on as we entered the Guild.

"You can only go on out of town missions solo if you're ten or older, but they have to be day jobs and the Master has to personally approve of it, otherwise you have to take an adult with you." Cana explained, "And so far Macao and Wakaba are the only two wizards with enough time on their hands to take me on one."

"Are you calling us lazy?!" Macao and Wakaba's voices echoed over the din of the guild hall, Cana giggled at them.

"Anyways, because of that I'm mainly stuck doing small jobs around town, like telling fortunes, walking dogs, or picking magical plants in the forest. It's pretty boring honestly, but the pay is good enough." I nodded along with her.

"It sucks, but it makes sense, I guess. Master Makarov doesn't want us to go get in over our heads before we're mature enough or powerful enough to work on our own." I shrugged, "It'll be nice to have some backup until I'm capable of standing on my own." I knew I could be powerful, heck, for my age I was powerful, but powerful for a ten year old is a lot different from powerful for an adult, or even a teenager. "Magic power growth is slow at our age, unless you were born with it." Or a dragon slayer, I would assume, if only because they seemed to break the rules of magic just by existing. Cana nodded along, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Maybe… still sucks though." I snorted.

"You're not wrong, Cana, you're not wrong." I sighed lightly and looked over at the board next to the bar, "Although I am curious about what's on the board that I could take." I began walking that way, Cana following behind me.

"Just remember what I said about the rules." Cana said, I nodded absentmindedly.

"Dog walking, plant picking, babysitting?" I looked over at Cana with an incredulous expression, "What's with these jobs? I get that some plants require a wizard's touch,but really?" A giggle from the bar broke me from surprise.

"Yeah, people will hire a guild to do just about anything, if you want the exciting stuff you have to show up early or be an S-Class Mage like Gildarts." A purple haired woman said, dancing on the bar. She smiled, "Maybe you'll get there someday kid, name's Enno." She then went back to dancing, I smiled at her. I noticed Cana looking sullen for a moment out of the corner of my eye, I looked at her, but she quickly smiled again.

That whole Gildarts thing must really be messing with her, huh?

I looked back at the board, before noticing the time, and decided I'd worry more about that tomorrow. Today I had joined the Fairy Tail guild, and I wanted to milk that elation for as much as it was worth.

I suddenly yawned, feeling the near endless energy seep out of me.

Guess I wouldn't be doing that for much longer either.

Still, today was a big day, a culmination of the dream I'd had since I realized just where I'd been reborn in, and I couldn't wait to experience more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3.5k words of the culmination of Helio's biggest dream so far, next up is his first job and possibly derailing of canon while we're at it.


End file.
